Onion Days
Mrs. Gabrielle Giovannitti comes along Peoria Street every morning at nine o'clockWith kindling wood piled on top of her head, her eyes looking straight ahead to find the way for her old feet.Her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Pietro Giovannitti, whose husband was killed in a tunnel explosion through the negligence of a fellow-servant,Works ten hours a day, sometimes twelve, picking onions for Jasper on the Bowmanville road.She takes a street car at half-past five in the morning, Mrs. Pietro Giovannitti does,And gets back from Jasper's with cash for her day's work, between nine and ten o'clock at night.Last week she got eight cents a box, Mrs. Pietro Giovannitti, picking onions for Jasper,But this week Jasper dropped the pay to six cents a box because so many women and girls were answering the ads in the Daily News.Jasper belongs to an Episcopal church in Ravenswood and on certain SundaysHe enjoys chanting the Nicene creed with his daughters on each side of him joining their voices with his.If the preacher repeats old sermons of a Sunday, Jasper's mind wanders to his 700-acre farm and how he can make it produce more efficientlyAnd sometimes he speculates on whether he could word an ad in the Daily News so it would bring more women and girls out to his farm and reduce operating costs.Mrs. Pietro Giovannitti is far from desperate about life; her joy is in a child she knows will arrive to her in three months.And now while these are the pictures for today there are other pictures of the Giovannitti people I could give you for to-morrow,And how some of them go to the county agent on winter mornings with their baskets for beans and corn-meal and molasses.I listen to fellows saying here's good stuff for a novel or it might be worked up into a good play.I say there's no dramatist living can put old Mrs. Gabrielle Giovannitti into a play with that kindling wood piled on top of her head coming along Peoria Street nine o'clock in the morning.
Words in this poem
- piled a.
- Having a pile or point; pointed. [From 2d Pile.]
- ahead adv.
- In or to the front; in advance; onward. [Pref. a- + head.]
- acre n.
- Any field of arable or pasture land. [OE. aker, AS. æcer; akin to OS. accar, OHG. achar, Ger. acker, Icel. akr, Sw. åker, Dan. ager, Goth. akrs, L. ager, Gr. ajra. *2, 206.]
- efficiently adv.
- With effect; effectively.
- desperate a.
- Without hope; given to despair; hopeless. [L. desperatus, p. p. of desperare. See Despair, and cf. Desperado.]
- county n.
- An earldom; the domain of a count or earl. [F. comt, fr. LL. comitatus. See Count.]
- dramatist n.
- The author of a dramatic composition; a writer of plays. [Cf. F. dramatiste.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Onion Days is in the public domain. This text is taken from Chicago Poems, Wikisource; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Carl Sandburg, Onion Days, in Chicago Poems (1916), text of Wikisource, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sandburg-chicago-poems/onion-days.html, id L28873.
Form and metre
Onion Days is 17 lines in a single stanza.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ----A----A------- o'clock · feet · servant · road · doesA · night · jasper · news · sundays · hisA · efficiently · costs · months · morrow · molasses · play · morning
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Mrs. Gabrielle Giovannitti comes along Peoria Street every morning at nine o'clock | 26 | /˘/˘˘·····˘/˘/˘˘·/˘˘/˘··˘/ |
| With kindling wood piled on top of her head, her eyes looking straight ahead to find the way for her old feet. | 25 | ·/˘·········/˘·˘/········ |
| Her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Pietro Giovannitti, whose husband was killed in a tunnel explosion through the negligence of a fellow-servant, | 37 | ·/˘··/˘˘/˘·····/˘····/˘˘/˘··/˘˘··/˘/˘ |
| Works ten hours a day, sometimes twelve, picking onions for Jasper on the Bowmanville road. | 23 | ··/˘··˘/·/˘/˘·/˘······· |
| She takes a street car at half-past five in the morning, Mrs. Pietro Giovannitti does, | 23 | ···········/˘/˘˘/˘····· |
| And gets back from Jasper's with cash for her day's work, between nine and ten o'clock at night. | 21 | ····/˘···········˘/·· |
| Last week she got eight cents a box, Mrs. Pietro Giovannitti, picking onions for Jasper, | 24 | ········/˘˘/˘····/˘/˘·/˘ |
| But this week Jasper dropped the pay to six cents a box because so many women and girls were answering the ads in the Daily News. | 33 | ···/˘···········/˘/˘···/˘˘····/˘· |
| Jasper belongs to an Episcopal church in Ravenswood and on certain Sundays | 21 | /˘˘/··˘/˘˘··/˘···/˘/· |
| He enjoys chanting the Nicene creed with his daughters on each side of him joining their voices with his. | 25 | ·˘//˘·/˘···/˘·····/˘·/˘·· |
| If the preacher repeats old sermons of a Sunday, Jasper's mind wanders to his 700-acre farm and how he can make it produce more efficiently | 36 | ··/˘˘/·/˘··/·/˘·/˘··/˘·······˘/·˘/˘˘ |
| And sometimes he speculates on whether he could word an ad in the Daily News so it would bring more women and girls out to his farm and reduce operating costs. | 41 | ·˘/·/˘···········/˘······/˘·······˘//˘·˘· |
| Mrs. Pietro Giovannitti is far from desperate about life; her joy is in a child she knows will arrive to her in three months. | 33 | /˘˘/˘·······/˘············˘/····· |
| And now while these are the pictures for today there are other pictures of the Giovannitti people I could give you for to-morrow, | 33 | ······/˘·˘/··/˘/˘······/˘······/˘ |
| And how some of them go to the county agent on winter mornings with their baskets for beans and corn-meal and molasses. | 30 | ········/˘/˘·/˘/˘··/˘······˘/˘ |
| I listen to fellows saying here's good stuff for a novel or it might be worked up into a good play. | 26 | ·/˘·/˘/˘·····/˘··········· |
| I say there's no dramatist living can put old Mrs. Gabrielle Giovannitti into a play with that kindling wood piled on top of her head coming along Peoria Street nine o'clock in the morning. | 52 | ····/˘˘/˘···/˘/˘˘··········/˘·······/˘˘/˘/˘˘··˘/··/˘ |
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